Lock-in of data is one of the most common techniques to artificially
raise the cost of migration to Free Software. Ensuring the best possible
interoperability through Open Standards is essential in enabling users
to escape vendor lock-in. FSFE's work on Open Standards has the goal of
making sure that people do not have to lose all their data when
migrating to Free Software.

A second directive on the enforcement of "intellectual property
rights" has been proposed by the European Commission. It aims to
criminalise all "intentional, commercial-scale"
infringements, and to allow rights-holders to take part
investigations. FSFE will be pointing out to the EU institutions how
such laws encourage abuse of the legal system and have chilling
effects on law-abiding activities.

In 2001 the European Union, through the DG Competition of the
European Commission (lead by Mr. Mario Monti), started investigating
Microsoft's dominant position in the market for desktop operating systems.
The Free Software Foundation Europe was invited by the
European Commission to represent the interests of the Free Software movement. Since 2004,
FSFE is participating in the appeal to again defend
competition and freedom of choice against abuses.